CORRUPTION AND CIVIL SOCIETY; HOW THE LATTER CAN (AND CAN‘T) HELP US TACKLE THE FORMER Research project as part of an internship with the OACU Michael Badham-Jones Felicitas Neuhaus Francisco Valenzuela

What we set out to achieve To what extent do law enforcement and civil society work together? What are the perceptions of each other? How can things be improved?

Why is it important? Transparency International (TI): ‘Year after year, it’s the same. Our Global Corruption Barometer confirms that corruption hits poor people hardest — with devastating consequences. A bribe demanded by a police officer may mean that a family can’t afford school fees or even food to eat. Findings from Mexico, for instance, show that the typical poor family must spend one-third of their income on bribes Source: (Transparency International, Poverty and Development, (date accessed 19/06/2014).

Why is it important?  Holmes (2014) underlines the interdependency of law enforcement and Civil Society and how action should be coordinated more  Nick Hildyard (Corner House) agrees: ‘It is often difficult to really progress a lot of corruption cases, unless you have very good links on the ground in the places where corruption is going on. This is something the police often lack’

Our Findings - Law Enforcement  Need to keep a healthy distance to civil society in order not to threaten neutrality  Civil society organisations are unaware of the complexity and difficulties of investigations  Two views seem to exist: o 1) involve civil society organisations and explain the difficulties of law enforcement to them o 2) keep distance to civil society organisations; primary goal is investigations

Our Findings - Civil Society  Civil society organisations will refer cases to law enforcement  Work with law enforcement to formulate policy recommendations  It is a ‘valued relationship’  Advice to law enforcement: Engage more with citizens to make them aware how to report/identify corruption -> Collaborate with civil society organisations

Concluding remarks  Both sides seem to be open to working with one another, however there is no an established way of coordination. It takes two to tango  Draw up statement of intents/memoranda of understanding  ‘It is important for anti-corruption campaigners to gain an understanding of what is required in terms of the burden of proof.’